Mr Lumme, what changes have safety technologies, particularly machine and plant safety, undergone in the years of increasing digitalization?

In safety technology for general mechanical engineering, many functions that were long solved electromechanically have shifted to the software level. Digitalization is well advanced here - always in accordance with the special rules of machine safety.

With our switching devices, we generally operate in niche markets. In the safety sector, for example, we offer heavy-duty position switches with a safety function, robust safety sensors, emergency pull-wire switches, safety foot switches and, in particular, a wide range of safety switches for potentially explosive areas.

In these specialized application areas, digitalization has not yet made as much inroads as in general industry. In this respect, this trend only applies to us to a lesser extent. There are fewer safety switching devices per system and they are less networked. However, exceptions prove the rule. For example, we supply one manufacturer of tunnel boring machines with heavy-duty emergency pull-wire safety switches with plug-in connections that are equipped with "Dupline Safe" communication modules. This considerably reduces the amount of wiring required for the kilometer-long tunnel boring projects.

How do you see further developments in the safety sector and what does this mean for providers like Steute?

In other business areas such as intralogistics and medical technology, we are seeing real leaps in development towards networking and digitalization - and are also driving this development ourselves. The innovations in these areas and in general automation technology will also seep into the niche applications of machine safety in which we operate with a time lag. We can benefit from the transfer of innovation within the company, for example in the use of highly reliable communication protocols, by cable or wirelessly via radio, which we have developed for medical technology, for example.